Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (9)

8/11/2017 – In game eleven of the World Championship match in Reykjavik, 1972, Boris Spassky had comprehensively outplayed the challenger in his favourite poisoned pawn variation of the Sicilian Defence. In game 12 he made a confident draw with black and Fischer realized his opponent was gaining ground. In the 13th game he abandoned the Sicilian and, to the chagrin of Spassky, played, for the first time in a top-level game – the Alekhine Defence. It turned into one of the most exciting battles of the match, and is beautifully annotated by GM Robert Byrne.

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Fischer plays the Alekhine

On August 9th 1972, 45 years ago, the score in the Match of the Century was 7.0-5.0 for Bobby Fischer. Boris Spassky had fought back and won the 11th game, making the battle more exciting. The 12th encounter was a comfortable draw for him as Black.

One of the most exciting endgames in Championship history

In the magazine New in Chess vol 6/2012, GM Lubomir Kavalek, who was in Reykjavik for the Match of the Century, both as a journalist and, in the second half, as one of Fischer’s seconds, describes what happened in the next game [we quote with kind permission of the author]:

"Game 13 puzzled many players even after it was finished. It was an epic battle and, according to Mikhail Botvinnik, the patriarch of Soviet chess, Fischer’s greatest achievement in the match. ‘Nothing like this had previously happened in chess,’ Botvinnik said. His former world championship challenger, David Bronstein, played the game over many times and it was an enigma to him. ‘Like a mysterious sphinx, it still teases my imagination,’ he said.

It was during this game that I started working with Bobby on the adjournment games after he sent his official second, Bill Lombardy, away from his suite. Bobby and Bill were a great pair, but during that night they turned into two strong personalities with two different opinions. The tension was resolved by Lombardy’s sneeze. ‘I don’t want to get your cold, Bill,’ Bobby said and added he wanted to work with me. Bill left quietly.

From that moment on, I analysed just with Bobby till the end of the match. Although we had never worked together before, I had Bobby’s trust. Earlier in the year I had finished first at the U.S. championship, becoming the second highest-rated player in the country after him. As long as he won the world crown it didn’t matter who helped him. It was his choice.

The game had an unlucky number and it had all the drama of a swing game. With a win, Spassky would shrink Bobby’s lead to a single point. Although Bobby had the edge, the adjourned position was a minefield, requiring utmost care. One line emerged as the most practical in our analysis. The play was straightforward, but there were a few roundabouts. We reached the position with Bobby’s rook arrested on g8 by White’s pawn and bishop. Spassky’s rook had to cope with Fischer’s five pawns, but it seemed that Boris would be able to do it. The black king could be cut off from crossing the d-file. Did we hit a snag?

‘Bobby...’ I began. He got the whiff of what I was about to say and intercepted me: ‘Don’t worry,’ he said confidently, ‘I just push the h-pawn and get in with the king. Anyway, we are too far.’ We had already strayed some 20 moves away from the adjourned position and there were many branches and trees of variations we had not covered. So we looked back and checked as much as we could. It was daylight when I went back to my room.

There was one thing I noticed. No matter how deep the analyses, Bobby committed everything to memory. No written notes.

Bobby was 21 minutes late for the adjournment. The game resumed and everything went as we had analysed. Boris imprisoned the black rook on g8 and the moment to sacrifice the h-pawn arrived. It was Bobby’s only chance, but he was not moving. After some 45 minutes everybody was puzzled. What is he looking at? Is there a win? Larsen, having stopped in Iceland on the way to the U.S. Open, was entertaining the crowd in the press room, commenting on the adjournment. He was in danger of missing his flight to New York.

Bobby was still sitting at the board. He had realized that he was going nowhere. The long think somehow affected Spassky’s concentration. Shortly after Bobby sacrificed the pawn, Boris made a few forced moves and blundered. The game went Fischer’s way. He turned Game 13 into a lucky number and was up three points in the match. And Larsen made it to Keflavik airport on time.

Bobby was happy about the win. ‘What’s the idea of chess?’ he laughed. ‘It’s winning, isn’t it.’ The loss was devastating for Spassky and instead of playing the next game, he took a time-out. Fischer didn’t mind, although before the match he had a different idea. ‘Taking time-outs had been misused,’ he said. ‘The Russians did it during their matches. When they decided to get a little rest, almost always after they lost a game, they claimed to be sick. I think one should play, unless you are so sick you can’t physically make it. It’s part of chess to be in good physical condition. If you are not, you can only complain to yourself. I don’t believe in time-outs every time the weather slightly changes.’"

The above picture of Bobby Fischer, Lubomir Kavalek and Florencio Campomanes is from the opening ceremony of the 1973 Manila tournament. Bobby was invited by Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos, made nine moves in ceremonial game with him, collected $20,000 and later flew to Japan (where he met his future wife Miyoko Watai for the first time).

In Garry Kasparov On My Great Predecessors, Part 4 the 13th World Champion described the situation after the first twelve games: the champion had not won since the first game, and of the last eight points had only scored 1½ points – from three draws. Then he "calmed down and began fighting with the desperation of the doomed: he sensationally crushed his opponent in the 11th game."

After the the confident draw by Spassky in the 12th game "Fischer realised that obstinacy was not a good thing and he decided temporarily to give up the Sicilian. For the first time in the match he employed the Alekhine Defence, which was another unpleasant surprise for Spassky.

'I will say frankly: no serious analysis of the variations for White in this opening had been made. This happened, because a number of experts, including Spassky himself, were convinced that Fischer was extremely constant in his opening tastes and that against 1 e4 he was unlikely to play anything except the Sicilian Defence.' (Krogius)"

Nikolai Krogius (right), assistant to Boris Spassky in his World Championship matches against Petrosian in 1969, and Fischer in 1972 [photo: Skáksamband Íslands]

In the November 1972 issue of Chess Life & Review, which today has become the official magazine of the US Chess Federation Chess Life, GM Robert Byrne reporting from Reykjavik, wrote:

Game 13 was a rousing battle. Fischer sprang a surprise Alekhine Defense, rapidly seizing the initiative and snatching a pawn. Since Spassky did not like the looks of the position he would be forced into if he played to retake the pawn, he sacrificed it permanently going all out for a Kingside attack. An inaccuracy by Fischer fueled the onslaught to alarming proportions but at the crucial point the champion vacillated, drifting into a pawn-down endgame.

That might, perhaps, have been the end of the story, except that Bobby took matters too lightly and blew the win a few moves before adjournment. When the game was resumed he put an incredible effort into the endgame, sacrificing a Bishop, allowing his Rook to be imprisoned and, in effect, going for a win with King and five pawns against King and Rook. Spassky's draw was there but he was worn down after so many hours of play—he blundered' at the 69th move and lost.

In the following commentary, as in his game summaries above, we retain the descriptive notation that Byrne (like everyone in the English world at the time) was wont to use. It is good practice to follow his remarks in this archaic form – to get you started translations are provided for the first ten moves. I urge you to replay the entire game carefully – maximize the board, start an engine and enjoy the moves. And learn from them. I certainly did so myself, in the hours I spent transcribing Byrne's wonderfully lucid annotations.

Although Fischer was 25 minutes late for the second session, he still had 45 extra minutes to use at the second time control on move 56. Fischer took 38 minutes for his 61st move, which was the longest of the match for him. And he had spent 21 minutes on the previous move that allowed his Rook to be imprisoned. He had played the first 18 moves of the adjournment quite rapidly, until Spassky’s 60. Be7.

The four-hour playing session had not been exhausted, since Spassky took 32 minutes for his sealed move in the first session, making that session 5 hours 24 minutes long. After he resigned, Spassky immediately analyzed the last few moves at the board, seeing that at move 69, he would have drawn with Rc3 instead of Rd1. He said something to Lothar Schmidt, but he was busy with the official paperwork. Fischer had already left.

This was one amazing game to watch. I could not believe it when Fischer’s Rook was incarcerated on g8 by Spassky’s Bishop and Pawn.

Previous articles

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (1)In the final week of June 1972 the chess world was in turmoil. The match between World Champion Boris Spassky and his challenger Bobby Fischer was scheduled to begin, in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, on July 1st. But there was no sign of Fischer. The opening ceremony took place without him, and the first game, scheduled for July 2nd, was postponed. Then finally, in the early hours of July 4th, Fischer arrived. Frederic Friedel narrates.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (2)The legendary Match of the Century between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer was staged in the Laugardalshöllin in Reykjavik. This is Iceland’s largest sporting arena, seating 5,500, but also the site for concerts – Led Zeppelin, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie all played there. 45 years after the Spassky-Fischer spectacle Frederic Friedel visited Laugardalshöllin and discovered some treasures there.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (3)On July 11, 1992 the legendary Match of the Century between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer finally began. Fischer arrived late, due to heavy traffic. To everybody's surprise he played a Nimzo instead of his normal Gruenfeld or King's Indian. The game developed along uninspired lines and most experts were predicting a draw. And then, on move twenty-nine, Fischer engaged in one of the most dangerous gambles of his career. "One move, and we hit every front page in the world!" said a blissful organiser.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (4)7/16/2017 – The challenger, tormented by the cameras installed in the playing hall, traumatically lost the first game of his match against World Champion Boris Spassky. He continued his vigorous protest, and when his demands were not met Fischer did not turn up for game two. He was forfeited and the score was 0-2. Bobby booked a flight back to New York, but practically at the very last moment decided to play game three – in an isolated ping-pong room!

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (5)7/21/2017 – After three games in the Match of the Century the score was 2:1 for the reigning World Champion. In game four Spassky played a well-prepared Sicilian and obtained a raging attack. Fischer defended tenaciously and the game was drawn. Then came a key game, about which the 1972 US Champion and New York Times and Chess Life correspondent GM Robert Byrne filed reports. In Reykjavik chess fan Lawrence Stevens from California did something extraordinary: he manually recorded the times both players had spent on each move.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (6)7/26/2017 – In the sixth installment of our series we offer readers a glimpse of what had been happening behind the scenes of “The Match of The Century”, especially in the Russian camp. A tense Boris Spassky, cajoled by seconds Efim Geller and Nikolai Krogius, nevertheless failed to perform to the dismay of his friends and admirers. It’s also the story of a gamble that could have hurtled Bobby down the precipice in that fateful Game 6 of the match. A cautionary tale and object lesson for aspiring players.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (7)8/4/2017 – After the first two traumatic games World Champion Boris Spassky was leading 2-0 in the Match of the Century. But then Fischer started to play and struck back: in the next eight games he scored 6½ points, chalking up a 6.5-3.5 lead. Games 8, 9 and 10 were quite spectacular, and are the subject of today's report. Younger players will also learn about "adjournments" and how exactly "sealed moves" were handled. Some were born after these practices were abandoned.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (8)8/9/2017 – After ten games in the World Championship match in Reykjavik, 1972, the score was 6½-3½ for Challenger Bobby Fischer. The match seemed virtually over – in the last eight games Boris Spassky had only managed to score 1½ points. "If it had been the best of 12 games, as in the Candidates matches, Spassky would already have been on his way home..." wrote Garry Kasparov in his Great Predessors book. In game 11 Boris took on the Poisoned Pawn variation of the Najdorf Sicilian, even though he had obtained a lost position in game seven. Take a look at what happened.

No other World Champion was more infamous both inside and outside the chess world than Bobby Fischer. On this DVD, a team of experts shows you the winning techniques and strategies employed by the 11th World Champion.

Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.

Frederic FriedelEditor-in-Chief of the ChessBase News Page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.

See also

9/1/2017 – The score was 11½-8½ for Challenger Bobby Fischer, who needed 12½ to win the title. In game 21 he had the black pieces and he played a Sicilian variation he had never before shown any liking for. He gained a distinct advantage, but then allowed Boris Spassky to sacrifice an exchange to get a drawn position. However, the still-reigning World Champion went on to blunder and finally lose his title.

See also

8/30/2017 – The score was 10½-7½ for the Challenger, who needed 12½ to win the title. Was Bobby Fischer content merely to sneak in by split points? "I don't believe it — it's never been his style," wrote commentator GM Robert Byrne. "I think the explanation for the draws is to be found in Spassky's improvements in his openings." In games 11 and 12 Fischer kept coasting, but he also relaxed somewhat with social encounters.

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

Discuss

Hi Frederic (and KevinC), Sorry I didn't come back to this page again until now. My apologies for not being more tactful in my initial post. I certainly greatly appreciate all the time and effort you have put into this wonderful project. I can still remember back in 1972 playing over the moves as a nine year old. It was almost the only time I can remember when chess moves were in our local newspaper almost every day. I agree with PeterFrost that the extra insights that history has given us are fascinating. One conclusion that hadn't occurred to me before is that Spassky deserves a huge amount of credit for ensuring the match continued. He had multiple opportunities to walk away and keep his title but - fortunately for legions of fans - he had too much respect for our beloved game.

marc.steinhebel@yahoo.com 8/15/2017 09:00

Notes to game 13:

At move 18, a possibility for Black not mentioned by the GM annotators I have seen is 18...g5 19. Bg3 Qc6. If 20. Nd4 Qc4 21. Qe3 (21. c3 Qe2 22. Re2 Nd5 looks -+) Nd5 looks really good for Black. If 20. c3 Qc4 21. Qd1 c5 or Bf5 looks good for Black.

In the 37...Rg8 line, Kasparov pointed out that 39. c4 (instead of Rh4) is slightly better for White. It also seems that 38...Ra7 (instead of 38...Ke8) may be better for Black. Houdini seems to like 37...Red8 (not mentioned by any annotator I have seen) 38. Rf4 Ke8
39. Rh4 Kd7 40. Rh7 Kc6 41. Rc7 Kb6 42. Rg7 a3 or Rg8 with a wild position probably better for Black.

Kasparov has pointed out that 41...e5 leads to a win for Black.

I agree with @peterfrost, I've never seen most of the annotations by Byrne and some of the comments by Kavalek. This is a real treat.

peterfrost 8/13/2017 06:57

This series is magnificent. Having read three books on the match, I had thought I knew all there was to know about the 'background' to it, but each article tells me something new...today it was 'I don't want to get your cold Bill'. It's almost as if we have been placed in a time machine and dropped into their very rooms to hear private conversations previously unreported on. Many thanks Frederic.

Frederic 8/12/2017 06:03

@Queenslander: I suppose I was using sarcasm -- a habit I adopted from early youth. But probably a general remark like "Some errors in notations for side lines of game 13" provoked it: what should I do, spend six more hours checking my PGN translation of the game to find the error you are complaining about? Also, as mentioned (and now supported by KevinC) I am interested in faithfully documenting what was published at the time. Full analysis is available in Mega -- and that is to be upgraded in the next edition by a very illustrious historian. But for you, after your elucidation, I have added an editorial note to the move 62.Kc1 in the PGN. BTW You can check the original Chess Life & Review scan of the variation here: http://en.chessbase.com/Portals/All/2017/_eng/ff/byrne13-m62.jpg.

KevinC 8/12/2017 03:44

Queenslander, the point of these articles, and I am loving them, is to give a feel for what was actually going on during the match. That includes the actual published analyses of the games as they were seen back then. If you want an in-depth computer analysis of the games, I am sure you can find that easily, or do it yourself. Or take up checkers.

Mr TambourineMan 8/12/2017 12:41

Computer computer computer
no brain no brain no brain
Well I take my pill that is using my brain
Yeah Im wrong well guess what I like it!

Queenslander 8/12/2017 11:11

Frederic, if you are are being sarcastic or suggesting I must have used a computer to find obscure errors, no there's just some simple errors. I noticed two while playing through the game on the interactive board. The one I remember is the note to Whites' 61st move which gives 61.Bf6 h2 62.Kc1?? f4?? but of course 62...h1Q wins instantly.

turok 8/12/2017 08:22

What i really love about these way after analysis of these great games is the 2nd guessing with people especially nowadays with computers etc. The great part of the game of chess especially back before computers is it is the moves at the MOMENT! Meaning it is easy to say Fischer had a bad move to lose his win and then Spassky gave it back to him but that is easier said than done when you are in the battle and stressed under pressure. You see although it can be a sing or weakness of Fischer always trying to go for the W it also forced players to play to the final end and they knew when would a mistake be made and Babby would squash them. That is the presence of greatness by his play. His mere presence on that board caused people concerns because even when losing he may get you and even in draws it is ONLY a draw if you follow thru on the moves and Bobby made you prove it. All those who analyze even todays games are peoplke with computers in hand and not close to being a world champion yet criticism abounds. Great stuff.

Frederic 8/12/2017 07:38

You mean I should have _corrected_ Byrne, Queenslander? This is intended as a historical document. Byrne was using an early version of Komodo -- wait a minute, no engine at all. At the time computers had barely been invented! And he was working under pressure. I'm trying to document what went during the match. Incidentally can you imagine how Fischer would have felt if some spectator had said to him after the game: "Bobby, tower to H8 was stoopid, you could have won by moving that man to G8!"

Queenslander 8/12/2017 03:27

Some errors in notations for side lines of game 13. Not hard to computer check before publishing?